Externalized Skyrider Flight Costs
Using the Helicopter is expensive business. HAM allows changing the costs, per sector, of moving the Helicopter around the map. History Jagged Alliance 2 has a Helicopter that can be used to move mercenaries across the map. This ability is unlocked when Skyrider (the pilot) is rescued and returned to Drassen Airport. Helicopter movement costs money, even if the vehicle isn't carrying any mercenaries. For every sector that the helicopter moves, you have to pay $100. The total sum is paid at the end of the journey. To move the helicopter at all, you will first need to liberate at least one of the SAM Sites. This turns some of the airspace over Arulco from "Enemy-controlled" to "free". However, the Helicopter can still be moved through "enemy-controlled" airspace. This is a risky venture, as there is a chance that the helicopter will be shot down by enemy SAM sites. Even if he isn't shot down, Skyrider will charge you $1000 for every "Enemy-Controlled" sector he has to pass through. You can see the airspace status of each sector by clicking the "Show Airspace" button below the Strategic Map. This button has the drawing of a Helicopter on it. When using this view mode, the Green sectors show "free" airspace, while Red sectors show "Enemy-Controlled" airspace. Financial Issues One reason to want to change Skyrider's Flight Costs is due to the changing economy in JA2 1.13. Many financial variables have been skewed in 1.13, partially due to the introduction of extremely expensive weapons, the ability (and sometimes the need) to train expensive Mobile Militia, and of course the ability to sell more weapons to Tony and also to the local population. In other words, the value of money itself has changed, and for some people, the cost of moving the Helicopter may either seem too little, or too much! HAM 3.5 - Changing the Costs HAM now allows changing the cost-per-sector of any Helicopter flight. You can individually change the cost of flying through GREEN ("free airspace") sectors, and RED ("enemy-controlled airspace) sectors. You can set either of these to any amount up to $60,000 per sector. Please use sensible values. HAM 3.5 - Facilites that Change Helicopter Flight Costs HAM 3.5's new facility system allows creating facilities that, when properly manned, will reduce or increase Skyrider's Flight Costs by a certain amount. By default, this is a property of the "SAM Site" facility. You will need to place a merc at the SAM Site, have him assigned to a squad and awake. When this condition is met, the flight costs are reduced by $100 per sector (both GREEN and RED). Each facility manned in this manner will reduce the flight costs by an additional $100. With 4 different SAM Sites on the map, this means that "manning" every SAM Site Facility will reduce the flight costs by a total of $400! Naturally, this is only useful if you've got spare mercs with low salaries, otherwise you'd be spending more money on keeping the SAM sites manned than you would be saving on helicopter transportation. To compensate for these decreases, HAM 3.5 recommends that you increase the BASE cost of flight to $500 (GREEN sectors) and $1400 (RED sectors). Manning all four SAM sites will therefore reduce the cost to its original value. INI Settings: There are two INI settings for this feature, allowing you to change GREEN and RED sector costs independently. HELICOPTER_BASE_COST_PER_GREEN_TILE HELICOPTER_BASE_COST_PER_RED_TILE Category:Features Category:Externalized Settings